24/7/2006

In terms of the whole defensive driving/riding thing (and I promise this is the last bike-related post for a while): if there’s one request I could make of drivers, it’s ‘please don’t tailgate me’ (or, perhaps more usually, expressed as in the title of this post!)

Basically, power/weight ratios and brakes over-ride the effect of tire contact patches and mean that, in an emergency-braking situation, a bike can pull up a lot more quickly than a car. In turn, that means that if you’re sitting right on my butt and something falls off a truck ahead so that we both have to hit the brakes hard, I’m going to be wearing you (and your ton and a half of steel) as a hat pretty quickly.

So leave at least the usual 2 seconds (which means a bigger gap at higher speeds) between us when you’re behind me – and I’ll do the same to you. It’s healthier for us both.